waterside contemporary

waterside contemporary is committed to developing an ambitious and vibrant multidisciplinary and cross-generational programme. Representing a portfolio of UK and international artists, the gallery brings institutional-quality exhibitions to London art audiences and market and supports the artists through curatorial projects and international art fairs.

d’Alancaisez and Ovenden share an interest in determined and engaged art practices. An international commitment allows the gallery to foreground current and historical overseas debates in a London context.The gallery’s programme and projects encompass practices that pertain to and stem from political periphery, for example those of Karen Mirza and Brad Butler or Ştefan Constantinescu. In parallel, the gallery engages with conceptually-driven work of mid-career European and UK artists including George Barber and Karim Noureldin.

In a series of group and solo exhibitions, waterside contemporary has worked with artists including Hreinn Fri∂finnsson, Anna Ostoya, Damien Roach, A K Dolven, Anita di Bianco, Patrick Tuttofuoco, Ernesto Salmerón, Amikam Toren and Graham Hudson.

The gallery works closely with its artists on developing projects in London and abroad, with large-scale publishing interventions by Javier Rodriguez and Marcin Dudek’s installation projects examples of an evolving international line-up.

Venue Type:

Gallery

Opening hours

Wed - Sat 12.00-18.00

Admission charges

Free

Exhibition details are listed below, you may need to scroll down to see them all.

Exhibition (temporary)

George Barber: Fences Make Senses

2 September — 7 November 2015

Private view Tuesday, 15 September 2015, 6-9pm

There are now more than 50 million refugees and displaced people in the world, more than the number at the end of World War II. In search of a better life, thousands risks lives daily at the hands of smugglers, human traffickers or unseaworthy boats. No single person or country can offer any solution to this complex issue; nevertheless press images inveigle themselves into the imagination and demand reaction.

In an installation conceived specially for the gallery and consisting of two new video works and artefacts, George Barber’s Fences Make Senses rehearses and re-enacts prevailing debates at international borders. Contemporary media reports usually focus on the plight of the forsaken; Barber instead specifically uses non-refugees to improvise situations and themes frequently faced. Buying a totally inappropriate boat from a rogue, for example, or having the wrong paperwork at a border, or on towards more philosophical notions - like the moral dichotomy of Captains who routinely ignore refugees.

Created before the recent surge of disasters in the Mediterranean, the exhibition’s feature video combines found and made footage to produce a montage anchored on migrant experience. While the reenactments are at times absurd, the artists’ own poetic voice–over explores the injustices and paradoxes of the situation.

In a companion piece Basement Pool, Barber monologues to get 'underneath' the water, taking on an anxiety of hypothetical neighbours excavating basement pools in more affluent areas of London. The indulgent and superficial unease is in stark contrast to problems many others face across the globe.

Fences Make Senses proposes the meeting place of poetry and philosophy as a site to consider one of the world’s biggest humanitarian and political concerns. Barber’s use of non-refugees to perform ultimately reignites and reframes the growing condition, stating it in an unexpected way.

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